‘The Little Foxes’: A Reconsideration

Does Lillian Hellman belong in the same elite club of 20th-century masters as Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller? The Washington Post’s chief theater critic, Peter Marks, suggested as much in a review last year of Arena Stage’s revival of “The Little Foxes,” a Hellman play receiving a starry new production on Broadway.

Directed by Daniel Sullivan, this drama about a Southern family at war with itself features Laura Linney and Cynthia Nixon in the juicy leading parts, Regina and Birdie. These stars, who also happen to be experienced stage performers, will alternate in the roles. This Manhattan Theater Club production will be a great opportunity for New York audiences to see if this play, first produced on Broadway in 1939, fits in the canon.